Bali Nine ringleaders condemned to death

The Bali Nine's two ringleaders were condemned to death by firing squad and another two defendants jailed for life by Indonesian judges.

The accused took the news calmly and some of their families sobbed as the verdicts were handed down.

Anti-drugs campaigners cheered in the court while the Australian government sombrely said it would ask for clemency for condemned Sydney men Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran Sukumaran, 24.

The Denpasar District Court also sentenced drug mules Michael Czugaj, 20, of Brisbane, and Martin Stephens, 29, of Wollongong, to life terms in line with sentences handed down on Monday against Renae Lawrence, 28, of Newcastle, and Scott Rush, 20, of Brisbane.

The Bali Nine trials end on Wednesday when three final defendants are also expected to get life.

All nine were arrested on April 17 last year in raids at Bali's airport and a hotel that netted 8.3kg of heroin bound for Australia.

Prime Minister John Howard reacted to Tuesday's death sentences by begging young Australians to stay away from drugs in Asia, saying he had no power to change tough anti-narcotic laws in other countries.

"Can I just say to every young Australian, please take notice of this, I even beg them not to take the terrible risks that these young people have done, their lives destroyed in the case of two people," he told reporters.

The prime minister also defended the role the Australian Federal Police played in the capture of the Bali Nine by tipping off Indonesian authorities.

Appeals must be filed with the Bali High Court within a week.

Further appeals could be made later to the Supreme Court and ultimately Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - himself an anti-drugs campaigner - could commute the death sentences.

An expert in international law said if the appeal process got bogged down in technicalities, Chan and Sukumaran could stay on Indonesia's death row for years.

Alternatively, things might move ominously fast.

"We could be looking at as little as two to three months. There is a record of executions in Indonesia being carried out expeditiously," said University of Sydney Professor Donald Rothwell.

There were chaotic scenes as Bali Nine "godfather" Andrew Chan and his "enforcer" Myuran Sukumaran arrived to a huge media crush outside the Denpasar District Court.

Martial arts expert Sukumaran quickly became incensed in the sweltering crush, hurling a water bottle missile and punching a camera into a photographer's head.

Chan stumbled on a drainage ditch and was almost pulled to the ground until police hauled him up by the armpits and dragged him to court through a side entrance.

As they were led handcuffed from a prison van, protesters carrying banners demanding the pair be "sent to hell" hurled abuse.

Inside the court the mood turned icy calm until judges handed the two ringleaders the first death sentences for narcotics ever handed down by a Bali court.

The small clutch of demonstrators broke into applause and cheered, shouting "death" and "well done chief judge" as Chan and later Sukumaran were led away.

In a second court, former Wollongong barman Martin Stephens and window cleaner Michael Czugaj - two of the mules Chan allegedly threatened with death if they refused to carry more than 8kg of heroin from Bali to Australia, were sentenced to life in jail.

Chan showed little emotion as Judge Arief Supratman read out his verdict from a handwritten statement.

He only nodded to his translator, before being led back to a cell where he joked with brother Michael before sharing a bottle of water with the brooding Sukumaran.

Arief said Chan was guilty of both exporting and possessing heroin on an island which was "the blooming flower of the world", and had shown no regret, refusing to testify or answer questions.

"The defendant didn't show any remorse and was evasive. Leniency: nothing," he said.

The story was the same for London-born Sukumaran who watched protesters hang a banner demanding his death before standing blinking as his verdict was read out.

"There are no reasons for justifying or forgiving the actions of the defendant," chief judge I Gusti Lanang Dauh said.

The lawyer for both Chan and Sukumaran, Rifan Mohamad, said he was bitterly disappointed with the verdicts and hinted he believed the trials had been unfair.

"We only got one week (to prepare)," he said.

"It is a big surprise for us. Our legal team will advise our clients to appeal."